Donuts has acquired the new gTLD .irish, which is struggling to gain volume after about 18 months on the market.

The gTLD was applied for and operated by Dot-Irish LLC, a US company founded by Irish and Northern Irish entrepreneurs.

Since going to general availability in June last year, it managed to grow its zone file to a peak of about 2,300 names in the first year.

That’s since dropped off to about 2,000 names.

Even self-consciously Irish registrar Blacknight has only managed to shift fewer than 500 names.

These numbers are disappointing any way you look at them, with the original gTLD application talking about an addressable market of 6 million Irish citizens and 80 million more in the Irish diaspora.

Registrar support does not seem to have been the issue. Registrars with reach, including Tucows, Name.com, Host Europe Group and Go Daddy all sell the names.

Pricing may be a factor. While Blacknight promotes .irish prominently for about $10 a year, elsewhere prices can range from $40 to $50.

The terms of the acquisition, which Donuts said closed last month, have not been disclosed.

Donuts said it will migrate .irish to its own infrastructure March 1, 2017. All policies and protection mechanisms that apply to the rest of the 198-strong Donuts stables will be applied to .irish, the company said.